Routines
by freeflight
Summary: One-shot: Lucy struggles to cope, and a familiar routine helps her hold on. Set right after the Tenrou Island arc. Budding NaLu, though mostly steeped in friendship. Not as dramatic as the one-line summary suggests. :D It's my first fanfiction (call me a newbie, whatever).


A/N: It's my first fanfiction... so please bear with me. I know I'm not the best writer there is, but I suppose the story's passable. It's set almost immediately after the Tenrou Island arc. There may be some OOC... as I said, please bear with me. It's a bit choppy. The first two "segments" are meant to be together. The third was inspired by a sentence from the second. Gee, I'm really bad at describing things... what I mean is that the last bit about routines was supposed to be a seperate little drabble, but I decided to include it anyways. There. Oh, and the parenthesis are just my way of writing. Not a A/N.

Well, I guess I should thank you for reading it... Angie. :D

With the S-class trials called off and the recent news of her father's death, Lucy Heartfilia felt thrown off the loop. Who knew 7 years could have made such a difference? Living in it, the years flew by, but being stuck in a bubble of timelessness was another story. There was _so_ much she still didn't understand and so much she still needed to know. She felt oddly lost, and the feeling settled uncomfortably in her stomach. Sighing, Lucy set down her tankard of beer and stared at her hands.

"Oi, Lucy, what's wrong?" a familiar voice asked.

The blonde-haired girl looked up at her fellow teammate, the Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel. Happy flitted above his shoulder, munching contentedly on a fish.

"It's nothing." Lucy gave him a wry smile and stood up. "I'm just tired. I think I'm going to go home and take a nice, long shower." She wasn't about to spew out her guts to the densest boy around. The others seemed to be coping with the whole time skip just fine, and she didn't want to stick out like a sore, emotionally-behind thumb. Lucy yawned and stretched out her arms for extra effect.

Natsu eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then broke out into a grin that spread across the length of his face (how he managed to do that without looking creepy, Lucy never understood). "Oh, well, if you're okay, then I better get back to Gray. He said something about me having slanty-eyes, and no man is gonna let _that_ pass."

"No man!" bellowed Elfman, pumping his fist into the air.

Lucy laughed a little. Some things never changed, did they? Nevertheless, pretending to be tired actually made her feel a bit tired herself. She stood up and slipped out of the bar, waving goodbye to Mirajane and smiling at Wendy, who was playing a card game with Cana and Romeo.

The air was surprisingly cool for a summer evening, and it felt pleasant on Lucy's skin. The new guild was farther away from her house than the old one was, so she was glad for the nice weather. She called out Plue, hoping for a little companionship that only the miniature snowman could give.

It took her forty minutes for her to catch sight of her apartment, a homey orange building which sat near the canal. Lucy shuffled along the edge, with Plue twirling along behind her.

"Hey Lucy! That's dangerous!" a fisherman called out.

"I'm fine!" she shouted back, with a giddy little wave. A piece of her old self came back as she remembered the countless times the men out on the water had warned her of her safety.

Lucy reached the door to her apartment, climbed up the stairs, and into her own rented living space. She took a deep breath. Her senses weren't as sharp as Natsu's or even Wendy's, but Lucy easily recognized this as her home. Fragrant flowers on her windowsill mixed with the remnants of her girly perfume... this was where she lived. The pungent odors of alcohol and warm food... that was the guild. Lucy snorted as she wondered how much it was going to cost to replace all the chairs and tables that were bound to be broken tonight. Her guild mates seemed to get in a fight every other day, didn't they?

_But that's just who they are_, she mused, flopping onto her pink-blanketed bed. _Wherever they go, whenever the time, they never fail to express themselves._ She rolled her eyes. _Violently, that is._

Lucy rubbed her temples and treaded to the kitchen. She took a few ingredients out of the fridge- some leftover beef, a few ribs of celery, an onion, and a couple other items- deciding she'd make a stew she'd eat with the last few slices of the bread (she really ought to finish them up, they were about to expire). Lucy quickly diced the vegetables and the meat and slid them into a bubbling pot of boiling water, oil, and spices. It was a lot of food, but at least the next few days' meals were taken care of. She put the lid on and turned the heat to the hottest temperature possible (she really ought to be more patient in the kitchen), taking a deep breath before heading to the bathroom.

Clothes off, Lucy stepped into the shower and let the steam envelop her body. _Whew._ It had been a long day. Laki had sat her down and gave her a long talk (or, as Laki called it, a speaking of understanding between the curious) about how things were faring with the other guilds during the time the Tenrou Team were gone. It had been pretty overwhelming, to say the least. Lucy thought her brain was going to combust after receiving seven years' worth of information in such a small span of time.

The warm water splashed on her hair, and the new shampoo she bought smelled good in her hair. It didn't smell as nice as her old one, but the company who made it had stopped producing them during the 7 year gap.

Lucy closed her eyes for a moment and let her mind wander, the unsettling stress and the nameless pit in her gut slowly rising away, like a ball of pent-up emotions hurdling through all the pain she had missed while under Fairy Sphere. It hit her father first- his death, his apparent change of heart. Every year, he had sent a letter of how he was doing in Acalypha and how much he missed Lucy. And how much faith he had in her and her friends. Even when the Council had abandoned the fruitless search, deeming it a blatant waste of resources, Lucy's father had kept on believing, kept on hoping. _You fairies are stronger than anyone can ever imagine. I am finally beginning to understand it now_, he had written his third letter. _The bond between one's dearest friends and closest family can overthrow any barrier. What a shame I have only learned that now._ The fifth letter reminisced of Lucy's early childhood, of days where business hadn't yet swallowed Jude's mind, of picnics in the courtyard and hide-and-seek in the Konzern headquarters. The final letter, the seventh, spoke of a father's feelings for his daughter.

_I hope I can see you again soon. Lucy... I've always... loved you._

A tear tumbled down Lucy's face. Another. And another. It poured down her cheeks, mingling with the water from the showerhead. She hadn't cried when she visited her father's grave with Natsu. But it was all coming out now, and Lucy couldn't discern whether the grief came from the loss of Jude Heartfilia or from the aftereffects of Acnologia's strike. _Seven years... disappearing in a dragon's roar..._ She slid down, her head cradled in her arms, shoulders shaking.

When she felt most of the tears were gone, Lucy rose and turned the shower off. The air in the bathroom was a bit chilly, so she dried off as quick as she could, slipping into her pink pajamas and bunny slippers and wrapping a thin towel around her dripping hair. Lucy realized with a start that her shower had taken longer than planned. _Much_ longer than planned, actually. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she had showered for an entire_ hour_! Her monthly apartment rental fee of 70,000 Jewel _did_ include the water bill, but _man_, was Lucy's landlady going to be pissed! She giggled at the thought of the old woman waddling in to her room at night, wearing one of her old outfits and wielding a shiny butcher's knife.

And there was something else, too... Lucy slapped her hands over her face with a groan, and mentally berated herself for forgetting.

"Darn it! The beef stew!" Lucy yelped, dashing into the kitchen.

"Ey, don't worry about it! We already turned off the heat!" said a pink-haired man lounging on the couch. "You ought to thank us, because otherwise it would've been ruined!"

"Aye, sir!" the blue Exceed perched on the man's head yipped.

Thankful she was wearing her pajamas and not just a towel, Lucy stormed over and proceeded to smack away Happy (who hit the wall and slid down, eyes all swirly-like) and pound on Natsu.

"WAH! Get out of my house!" she shrieked. It had practically become a routine. Natsu and Happy would somehow sneak in, Lucy would find them, she'd yell at them to leave, and in the end, they would all stay in her house, warm, fed, and content.

"Natsu smelled the stew in your apartment and we couldn't help but come and check it out. We just wanted to see if you were a good cook or not," Happy informed her, having recovered from his hit. "Which," he added unnecessarily. "You're not."

"I thought it was good," mumbled Natsu, his face hidden underneath the pillow Lucy had rammed on him and was currently sitting on. "We saved some stew for you, but we ate all of the bread."

Realizing that she was incredibly hungry, Lucy leapt off the pillow and walked over to the kitchen.

"You saved me half of it!" she squeaked angrily, gripping the edge of the pot. "I can't eat _that_ much!"

Happy blinked, confused. "But you're so heavy..."

He got bunny-slippered as a response.

Natsu stood up, stretched his arms with a yawn, and slid into a chair next to Lucy. "Honestly, I'm not full yet, so, if you don't mind-"

"Here." Lucy cut him off, ladling a small bowl for herself, then pushing the rest of the stew to where the dragon slayer sat.

"Arigatou, Luigi!"

Natsu's face received the other bunny slipper.

It was the same routine- it always was. It was so predictable, yet each time it was unique. Lucy cycled the happenings in her head.

_First, Natsu and Happy snuck in (and devoured half of the stew that she was planning to save for the next half-week)... check._

_Next, Lucy found them (luckily while wearing pajamas)... check._

_Then, she yelled at them (and smacked Happy for good measure, too, that cat could be insufferable at times)... check._

And now, there they were, all three of them lying on her bed. Happy was snoozing on Natsu's open chest, as the Dragon Slayer himself softly snored in his sleep. Lucy looked over at him, and lightly ran her fingers through his salmon locks (yeah, yeah, whatever, it was pink and there was no denying it).

People always looked so tranquil in their sleep. Natsu looked like an innocent baby, Lucy thought, noticing his closed lids and half-grin, stomach rising and falling with each breath he took. She stretched out her arms, and prodded his cheek good-naturedly, before rolling off the bed and onto the makeshift pillow mattress on the ground. Lucy smiled. She had loved. She had lost. But she had _coped_. And at the end of the day, she was with her dearest nakama. Life was good.

_And finally... somehow... all of them would be in her house, warm, fed, and content._ Lucy lifted her head, taking one last glance at the fire mage and the blue Exceed, before snuggling back under her blanket. _Check._

_"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."_

_-Mike Murdock_

A/N: Well, there you go! Kudos to you peoples! Please review! I love me some criticism! Helps me get better, ya' know. I kinda suck at writing at the moment, but yeah... oh, and by the way, the story image (whatever it's called, I'm a FF newbie) I drew. Yuppers and awkwardness. See ya!


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